


The Menace of the Years

by Devils_Official



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Godwin’s Law, I Stan one (1) purple alien prince, Implied past Lotura, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, S6 Fix-it, although this takes place after s7, domestic violence is not a joke dreamworks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-07-12 11:01:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15993815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Devils_Official/pseuds/Devils_Official
Summary: The paladins fish Lotor out of the Rift and demand answers.





	The Menace of the Years

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from the poem “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley. 
> 
> If you like Allura or Pidge, I would recommend that you don’t read this.

The cell was...destroyed, the few pieces of furniture broken into pieces, sheets ripped and ragged.

There was even a hairline crack in the glass of the cell, despite the fact that it was apparently “bulletproof” and impenetrable. 

“So you’ve finally come to talk,” Lotor said, his voice ragged.

He looked a little worse-for-wear, dressed solely in a white cryopod suit, his hair unkempt, sitting on the floor in one corner. He didn’t look at her, and she was both glad and angry about it. 

“Tell me about the Colony,” Allura said.

He laughed, and it was a horrible sound, grating and vitriolic. “Now you want to hear what I have to say. Now, after...how long has it been? Did you finally find out that things are not as they first appeared?”

“I ask the questions!” Allura shouted. “You wanted a chance to explain yourself, so explain!”

“No.”

“Do you think you have a choice in the matter?”

He shrugged. “What will you do? Torture me?” He laughed again, but this time it sounded almost...genuine, like he was actually amused. “Aren’t you supposed to be better than that? Please, Allura. There is nothing you can do to me to make me tell you anything I don’t want to.” 

“I’ll listen this time,” she said. “I’ll… We need your help.”

“Of course you do. If only you had realized that sooner.” He looked up finally, and his eyes… His eyes glowed yellow, pupil-less.

She stepped back involuntarily. 

He grinned, all teeth and threat. “Send someone else next time. Maybe I’ll feel like talking then.” 

 

Allura could not, in good conscience, send anyone else; this was her fault. None of this would have happened if she hadn’t trusted Lotor so completely. 

She waited two days before going back to the brig of the  _ Atlas _ . She tried going earlier, but everytime she got to the corridor outside, she...froze. Had to turn back. Couldn’t bring herself to go forward.

“You don’t listen well, do you, Allura? Not to me, anyway. Is it because I don’t look Altean enough for you?”

She left without saying a word, angry and upset and… Guilty. He was right, wasn’t he? But he’d done what he’d done, and she did what she had to do. 

 

She tried again the next day. 

This time he paced across the cell -six steps, turn, six steps, turn, six steps -manically, muttering to himself frantically. 

He stopped suddenly, finally noticing her presence. 

The air was thick with something, choking her, and his eyes glowed again, acid yellow. His Altean marks glowed too, though, and the contrast was...startling. Sickening. 

Had she ever really thought she could love this monster? Had she ever thought he could love her back? Or had he been using her, like he’d used all the other Alteans he’d ‘saved’? 

He hissed at her, like a wild animal; there was no reason left in his eyes, and it had her stepping back until she was pressed up against the far wall. He couldn’t escape the cell, and yet there seemed to be no barrier between them, like he could reach out and-

She fled. 

 

The next day he was calm again. As calm as he ever was. He looked almost like he had before it all went so wrong, and she had to forcefully remind herself of his crimes. 

“Just kill me, Allura. You won’t believe anything I have to say, so why bother?”

“Do you really want to die?”

He laughed, softly, then sighed. “No. No, of course not. But I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in this cell, either.”

“That’s what you deserve.”

“Is it?” He picked at his claws. It must have been an old habit he’d broken; she’d never seen him do it before, but now it didn’t seem he knew he was doing it. “What crimes am I being accused of?”

“As if you don’t know.” 

He was suddenly, abruptly, against the glass, inches away. “I want to hear you say it, Allura. I want to hear the accusations from your mouth, in your own words.”

She took a step back. “I… Can you wait?”

He laughed again. “I’m not going anywhere.” 

 

Her hands shook a little, holding the tablet like a lifeline. She’d  had the forethought to write it all down, plan what she was going to say.

But it was still hard. 

Romelle had gone pale when Allura asked her to recount what had happened, but she needed to know; the universe needed to know, and it was bigger than Romelle. Than either of them. 

She didn’t look at Lotor as she began to speak; what courage she’d mustered would dissolve if she did, she knew, and it was easier to keep her eyes on the screen, rather than face him.

She still felt his eyes on her, studying her down to the bone, as intense as ever, if not more so. 

“You stand accused,” she began, then licked her lips. Her mouth was dry, parched, but she had to get through this. “You stand accused of the following crimes against the Altean people: enslavement of millions, illegal and unethical experimentation, purposefully misleading thousands for your own personal gain, genocide, and one count of murder.”

“I never killed any of them,” Lotor said.

“Romelle’s brother-“

“Died of injuries sustained during a crash landing.”

“But you were there.” She looked up finally, afraid of what she might see, but unable to resist.

He sighed. “I was. It was an unfortunate accident, but not one that you can lay at my feet.” 

“Of course I can! It was your fault-“

“Get out, Allura,” he said abruptly. “You’re not interested in hearing me out, and you never were. You’ve already decided that I am guilty. So get out.”

She glared, long and hard. “There is no one else who will listen to you. If you don’t talk to me, then you will rot in here forever.”

“So be it.” 

 

It was late, and Keith should be in bed, but.

Well, Lotor wasn’t sleeping, either.

“Hey,” Keith began, unsure of what to say. “I, uh…”

“Black Paladin. Has Allura finally changed her mind about permitting others to talk to me?”

“Uh, no, she doesn’t know I’m here.”

Lotor smiled, a little bitterly. “She won’t hear it from me. So why are you here, then, if not to pry information out of me?”

“I came to apologize,” Keith said in a rush. 

“For what? You’ve done nothing wrong. As far as I know.” He leaned back against the wall of the cell and closed his eyes. “Then again, anything could be happening out there.”

“You hate it, don’t you? That Allura hasn’t told you anything.”

The lights were low enough that, when Lotor opened his eyes again, they glowed softly, reflecting back light. Keith knew his own eyes did that, sometimes, too. “You are perceptive, aren’t you?”

“I- Not as much as I should be, I guess. But I’m trying.”

Lotor hummed thoughtfully. “That’s important, too, for a leader, Black Paladin.”

“Keith,” Keith said. 

“Keith,” Lotor repeated. “So, what have you come to apologize about?”

Keith swallowed. “We...should have at least heard you out. Let you explain. Whether you did what Romelle accused you of or not. So… I’m sorry. Maybe things could have been resolved better. Maybe…”

“What happened, after my...disappearance?” He asked it so softly that Keith almost didn’t hear him. “How long was it?”

“More than three years,” Keith said. “A lot happened. Most of it bad.”

“I’m not surprised,” Lotor said with a hollow laugh. 

“Sendak attacked Earth.” 

“Is that where we are now?”

Keith hesitated. “...Yes. Well, we’re orbiting Earth.”

“I’d like to see it sometime,” Lotor said. “I always liked seeing new things.” He sighed. “Sendak is…?”

“Dead. I killed him.”

“Good. I’m glad someone finally managed.” 

“So...did you actually do what Romelle said you did?” Keith asked after a long silence.

“Would you believe me if I told you that I didn’t?”

“Maybe.” Keith grimaced, wondering if he should tell him or not. “The Colony is...gone.”

Lotor was on his feet instantly. “ _ Gone _ ?” 

“Yeah. We don’t… I mean, I haven’t seen it myself since… But some Blades went, and no one was there.” 

Lotor started cursing -Keith assumed it was cursing; he’d never heard most of those words before -and pacing. “I was afraid this would happen,” he said finally. “The witch must have… When Romelle… Gods, none of you knew what you were doing, and now-“

“What’s going to happen?”

“I don’t know, exactly. But the witch… I did start the Colony. I will admit to that. I intended for it to be a sanctuary -my father was hunting down every last surviving Altean, and I had to do  _ something _ -but I wasn’t careful  _ enough _ , and the witch found out. She blackmailed me.”

“Your own mother-?”

Lotor shook his head. “I will  _ not _ recognize her as family. I was well-liked in the Colony; they believed whatever I said, and I did lie, but it was to protect them… She’s going to use your betrayal of me to...shape them into an army, perhaps. Much of the research carried out in the second facility was hers. I don’t know exactly what occurred there.”

“There was a… a robot,” Keith said. “It attacked us, and it could...pull the quintessence out of Voltron, and then use it to attack us. It was… We didn’t find out until later, but an Altean was powering it.”

“You defeated it, though?”

“Barely,” Keith said. “It almost killed us.”

“And this is why you came to apologize to me? Because you feel guilty about all that occurred after?”

“Yes,” Keith admitted. “We acted rashly. I shouldn’t have just...barged in and start hurling accusations.”

“You are young,” Lotor replied. “Rashness is to be expected, and it is forgivable in those without the proper training.”

Keith shifted on his feet. “But still, this is at least partially my fault.”

”You were not born to lead, Paladin. That you have learned without formal training is...impressive. No, Allura is the one that should have kept a level head. She has been trained since birth to deal with difficult situations diplomatically and fairly. And she is not a child anymore; she needs to grow up.”

Keith was a little taken aback; he hadn’t expected this sort of calm indignation from Lotor. He clearly was angry, but not at Keith, though he had every right to be. Instead, all his anger was focused on Allura. “We all had a hand in it…”

Lotor shook his head again. “Allura was the only one i trusted, and I thought she trusted me. I expected better from her. You’d think, after all this time, that I would know better.”

 

“Are you going to tell me what we need to know?” Allura asked. “Are you going to tell me where the Colony is?”

“It’s not where I left it?” Lotor asked. “Goodness. Twice now has Altea been lost, and both times were under your watch.”

He was goading her, and she couldn’t let him get a rise out of her. That’s what he wanted. He wanted to see her as angry as he himself was. 

“What right do you have to be so angry about this?” She demanded. 

“What  _ right _ do I have? Am I not allowed to be angry when I am falsely accused of such heinous crimes? Am I not allowed to be angry that the only person I’ve trusted in millennia was more than willing to betray me the second they heard something remotely distasteful about me? Am I not allowed to be angry that you can’t see past my race, except when it suits you? Am I not allowed to be angry that you’ve held the circumstances of my birth against me? Am I not allowed to be angry that-“

“You trust me?” She put a hand over her mouth. She hadn’t expected that. Didn’t know what to do with that. 

He looked startled, but he sighed, turned away from her a little. “I did.” 

“But no longer.”

“How could I, Allura? Maybe you think that you trusted me, but the second you heard an unflattering rumor, you acted like it was the truth, without letting me explain. Without letting me defend myself. That’s not trust. You were waiting for me to slip up, prove you right: that I am Zarkon’s son, and nothing better.” 

“I- I’m sorry.”

He laughed hollowly. “No, you’re not. Tell me, did the Empire fall apart? Is the universe in ruins? How many millions died because you would not let me explain myself? Will you ever accept it as your own doing? Or will you keep pretending that all these events are unrelated? That the universe just fell apart on its own?”

“That’s not fair.”

He grinned, his fangs gleaming. “You’re interested in fairness now? How novel.” He paced up and down the cell a few times. “Somehow you managed to destroy the universe worse than my father did. Bravo, Allura. Your father would be  _ so _ proud of you.  Princess of nothing but ashes and misplaced pride.” 

“Stop it!”

“Stop what? Comparing you to your father? Hurts, doesn’t it? I was naive once, too, naive enough to think I could make my father proud. I grew out of it, but I guess you never did. You’re still a child, really. A shortsighted, overemotional, naive child who won’t take responsibility for all the things you have done. One day, it will all come back to you, Allura. It always does.” 

Without thinking, she slammed her hand against the button that would allow admittance into the cell, and her hand was raised, poised to strike-

Lotor never flinched. “Go ahead. You wouldn’t be the first.”

She froze, realizing what she had almost done. Almost proved him right, almost struck him ( _ again _ ), almost-

It made her sick.

She fled. 

 

Allura hadn’t told him  _ why _ , but she’d asked him to carry out further interviews with Lotor.

Keith didn’t mind. It was at least a little bit his fault that Lotor was here in the first place, and anyway, he sort of liked talking to Lotor. 

Lotor seemed more willing to talk to Keith, so Keith actually got some information out of him. 

“Someone had to step up,” Lotor said quietly. “There was no one else, and I had a few resources… It was either that, or let my father exterminate the last remnants of the Altean people. Everything else… That was unintentional. I didn’t ask them to worship me; in fact, I asked on multiple occasions for them to stop, but there was little I could do. I couldn’t spend all my time there, because that would have been suspicious. My father liked to keep tabs on me even during my exile.

”And, anyway, I didn’t really fit in there, either.” 

Keith frowned. “Couldn’t you have…” He gestured vaguely. “Shapeshifted? Or something.”

”Unfortunately, I did not inherit that ability.”

”Oh.” Keith paused. “I know what it’s like to not fit in.” 

“I thought you might.” 

“So, why did Allura send me here? She wouldn’t say.”

Lotor shrugged. “I said some things she didn’t like.”

”That’s all?”

“More or less. It’s a...charitable reading, but I wouldn’t want you to think that I was trying to turn you against her.”

”No, I mean… I know she’s not perfect. She’s...still adjusting to me being half Galra, and I look more or less human.”

“It must be nice,” Lotor said, “to have someone that loves you, despite your faults. It’s a...privilege, and I don’t think she understands that.” 

“No, I guess not.” 

“The reason I will not acknowledge the witch as my mother…” Lotor trailed off with a sour expression. “The experiments were hers. Whatever you saw at the research facility is all her doing.”

”How did she even find out about the Colony in the first place?”

“I was young and naive. I thought I was being careful, but I wasn’t careful enough. She sent spies after me, and I never realized they were there until it was too late. She told me that if I allowed her to...experiment, then she wouldn’t tell my father that the Colony existed. She also told me that if I warned any of the colonists about it, she would exterminate them.”

”That’s why you had to prevent Bandor from speaking out.”

Lotor nodded. “His death was an unfortunate accident, but…”

“Why didn’t you get them to fight? They would have, I think.”

“They would have,” Lotor agreed. “And they would have died for it. It was a gruesome sort of math, but… Which was better: allowing her to do experiments on a few, or letting them all perish in a war they had no hope of winning? I had to sacrifice a few so that the many could live in peace, away from the Empire. It still haunts me, just thinking about it. If I had just...been more careful, then maybe…”

“You did what you had to do,” Keith said quietly. Something about Lotor’s words made it difficult to disbelieve him. This wasn’t a scripted response, a ploy to get Keith to free him or something. 

Lotor shrugged. “I didn’t know what to do. The witch’s experiments drained the life out of the Alteans, and I spent centuries trying to find a way to heal them from it. As far as I know, no one actually died. They’re just...waiting, to be restored.”

”That’s why you needed to get into the Rift.”

“Yes.” 

“I don’t know if Allura will believe this,” Keith said honestly, “but I’m willing to believe you for now.”

Lotor seemed genuinely surprised by that. “Thank you. For listening.” 

“It’s the least I can do.”

 

Keith watched the surveillance footage from Allura’s previous visits. There was no sound, but he could read body language well enough to get some idea of what happened. 

He needed more than Allura’s silence and Lotor’s “charitable reading.” 

What he found shocked him. 

“That was unacceptable,” he said sternly, firmly. “I don’t care what he says to you, and I don’t care if this was how things worked on Altea  _ -although I highly doubt that _ \- you do not raise your hand against someone just because they said something nasty.” 

Allura had the grace to look embarrassed. “I...made a mistake. Even I am horrified by my actions, and it will not happen again.”

“You need to apologize to him,” Keith said. “If you are truly sorry.” 

“Why do you care?”

“Because we are supposed to be better, Allura! Jesus Christ, we’re  _ Voltron _ . We’re supposed to be the heroes, the good guys. We can’t just- Do I need to explain it to you? We have to treat everyone fairly and justly, no matter what. Put your personal feelings aside so we can get back to saving the goddamn universe.”

“You sound like Shiro,” she said sullenly.

Which was probably the highest compliment she or anyone else had ever given him, whether she intended it to be or not. “Good. He’d say the same thing. And don’t visit Lotor alone again.” 

 

Keith wasn’t sure why it bothered him so much -the home had been shitty, but not quite that shitty -but it did. 

He didn’t tell Lotor about it, and Lotor didn’t bring it up. In fact, he avoided talking about Allura most of the time. 

“We don’t have any way to corroborate your story,” Keith told him. “Just Romelle’s word against yours.”

“Quite the conundrum,” Lotor drawled. “Didn’t you see the Colony?”

“Parts of it. Now that I think about it, some things didn’t quite...match up. But the Colony is gone now, and we don’t know where they went. So…”

“I suppose…” Lotor sighed. “I suspect they are with the witch, wherever she is. But like I said, no one in the Colony knew the truth of what happened. Only myself and the witch know, and it will be my word against hers.”

“And we can’t trust either of you.”

“No, probably not.” He sighed again. “I fear that… The witch managed to transform herself back somehow, and now she looks as she must have, before.”

“Altean, you mean.”

Lotor nodded. “I worry… Just because she looks like Honerva, does not mean that she is. Do you understand? Ten thousand years of... _ sadism _ is not so easily washed away, but she will look and talk and act as if it can be. She will prey on your vulnerabilities, your prejudices.”

“You think that because she looks Altean now, Allura will believe whatever she says?”

“It’s a possibility. I made the mistake of trusting Allura to reason her way through a difficult situation before; I will not make the same mistake again.”

“Allura tries, you know. She does, but it’s hard for her sometimes.”

“I’ve dedicated my life to making the universe better than it was under my father’s reign, and in less than four years, she managed to undo ten thousand years’ worth of hard work. Forgive me if I’m not inclined to be so...clement.” 

“I get that,” Keith said. “I’m not asking you to forgive her.”

Lotor was silent for a long, long time. “It will be a very long time before I am able to trust someone again,” he said slowly, “but, if circumstances were different, I think that I would trust you, Keith. I will...consider your judgement on this matter.” 

 

Allura knew that Keith had meant she bring Shiro, or Hunk, or even Lance with her if she saw Lotor again. Not Pidge. Shiro and Hunk would both try to, and probably succeed in, de-escalating the situation, should things get out of hand (again). Lance certainly didn’t like Lotor, but he was more inclined to be fair, at least, and would have something to say about harming a prisoner.

Pidge had no such compunctions. She was, perhaps, the most bloodthirsty paladin, in her own way, and she hated Lotor; if Allura couldn’t control herself, Pidge wouldn’t make a move to stop her.

(Pidge might even help, not that Allura needed help. Not when she knew Lotor wouldn’t fight back, or if he did… If he did, then she was justified in doing whatever she-)

She didn’t like thinking like this. But she was also angry, terribly angry, after reading and rereading Romelle’s account, after imagining the details Romelle hadn’t been able to give, after connecting the dots between the Alteans in the lab and the Altean in the pod of the robot that had almost killed Voltron. That, surely, was his doing. How he had managed from the Rift, she didn’t know, but perhaps it had always been in the works, set into motion before that final confrontation. Perhaps he had been planning to betray and destroy them all along. 

He just hadn’t succeeded. 

Lotor was in a coolly disaffected mood, distantly amused but otherwise untouched by the things that happened around him. 

“Does Earth use children to fight all their wars?” Lotor asked, smirking and obnoxious. “Even the Galra do not use child soldiers. It is...uncivilized.”

“Fuck you,” Pidge snapped. “I’m not a child anymore.” 

“Anymore? But you were when the Green Lion choose you, then? Alfor really should have done a better job, don’t you think? Wars are so terribly dangerous, especially for the young and naive. Those who jump into situations without all the facts.”

“Fuck your facts, ok? I trust Romelle far more than I trust you.”

”And why is that? Would you have trusted Romelle if, say, she was Galra?”

”Well, you wouldn’t experiment on your own people, would you?” 

“Of course not. That would be disgusting and barbaric. But, as you may have noticed, I am not a full-blooded Galra.”

He wasn’t. He was half-Altean, and he had still-

“Then again, why should i defend myself against the accusations of a child? Princess, don’t you have something to say?”

“You’re a monster,” she breathed. “You’re half-Altean, and you still did all that.”

His ears twitched irritably. “If that’s what you believe, then when is the trial? When will justice be served? Do you still believe in justice, Allura? Will you allow me to present evidence on my own behalf? Or will you once again act as judge, jury, and executioner? Was that not a crime on Altea?”

“It doesn’t matter! Altea is gone, and your father destroyed it, and you have spent ten thousand years reaping the benefits of that!” 

“There are no benefits to being a half-breed within the Empire. It is better to be a full-blooded foot-soldier than a mongrel prince. You wouldn’t understand. How could you possibly understand what it’s like to be hated by your own father? Blamed for everything, scorned and abused and despised? But no, let me allow the well-loved Princess of Altea tell me how great my life must have been while I fought everyday to survive for ten thousand years. Where were you, Princess, when the Altean people needed you?” His sudden change in tone, now so bitter and vitriolic, startled her.

“I- I was...in stasis. You know that. I couldn’t- There was nothing-“

“And when this war is over, if you ever permit it to end, you will take credit for every net benefit, and blame me for every net loss. I know your type. Unwilling to take responsibility for anything, and why should you, when there’s a misbegotten cur so conveniently poised to take the blame?” 

“That’s unfair,” she accused. “I’m-“

“Life isn’t fair, Allura. It wasn’t fair that I was born to parents who couldn’t love me, to an empire that would always look down on me, in a time where-“

“Oh, boo-hoo,” Pidge interrupted. “You’re parents didn’t wuv you enough. Big deal. You’re still a criminal and a monster. We had an entire war over someone trying to exterminate an entire race, and you know what happened?”

“I’m sure you’ll be delighted to tell me,” Lotor drawled. 

“They lost! And after that, they were executed, like the monsters they were. Like they deserved.”

“If you are so eager to see me dead, then go ahead,” Lotor said, holding his arms out, away from his body. “Every step you take down this road moves you closer to becoming the villains you proclaim to hate.”

Pidge made an angry, almost inhuman sound, and it was all Allura could do to stop her. This was a mistake; she hadn’t exactly forgotten how silver-tongued Lotor could be, but he’d rarely used it as a  _ weapon _ . Rarely used it against  _ her _ . 

“Don’t come back!” Lotor shouted at their retreating backs. “Send someone less selfish and self-righteous next time!”

 

“Are- are you doing ok?” Keith asked eventually. It didn’t quite seem right to keep Lotor like this, but he understood the reasoning behind it. “Do you need anything?”

Lotor laughed, soft and bitter. “No. No, thank you, Keith. I’ve managed in worse prisons that this.”

“What for?”

Lotor shrugged. “Does it matter? It was a long time ago.” He lifted his head and blinked a few times, and if Keith looked close enough…

“Do all Galra have third eyelids?” He blurted.

Lotor blinked, this time in surprise. “...Yes. Some hybrids, too. I…” He turned away, as he usually did when he was about to share personal information. “I had mine removed when I was… Twenty-five? Or so. A long time ago. They didn’t retract smoothly, and as you might imagine…”

Yeah, that sounded unpleasant. Keith blinked a few times, and imagined what it would feel like if his eyelids didn’t open and close easily. Made his skin crawl, just thinking about it.

“But you…”

“Re-grew them, yes.” Lotor turned back, his eyes completely golden now. “The Rift had many effects. This was only one.”

“What other effects were there?” Should the paladins worry about it? 

“I’m not sure, exactly. If I had...even just a scanner, or something, I would know. But I  _ feel… _ Stronger. More robust. More patient, too. Less...alive, and more… enduring. I was here long before you, and I will be here long after.” He looked down at his hand, like it was some highly interesting specimen that he was examining. Softly, almost to himself, he said, “The experiments of my mother Honerva cannot be so easily undone.” 

“That’s…” Eerie, in a way. But Lotor was correct; unless something killed him, he probably would outlive them all. He was already ten thousand years old, after all. 

“It simply is,” Lotor said. “I was exposed to the Rift before I was born. That’s probably why I am affected so...profoundly. It should not be an issue for any of you.” 

“That’s good to know,” Keith said. 

Lotor hummed noncommittally. “Many things simply are, Keith. Just tools, to be used for good or evil at the user’s discretion. Remember that. Voltron is powerful enough that very few can stand up to it. Alfor was a brilliant man, and it would be a tragedy if his legacy was reduced to a warmongering weapon used to bully planets into submission. Peace is a glorious dream, but not when it is enforced at the end of a bayard.”

“I...will,” Keith said. 

 

“I assume that the Kral Zera has been undertaken,” Lotor said. “Tell me, who is the thirty-fifth Emperor of the Galra?”

“It, uh...wasn’t,” Keith said. “As far as I know, you are technically still the Emperor.”

“The Flame didn’t go out?” Lotor frowned thoughtfully. “I thought…” He shook his head. “It would have been better if you had killed me when you had the chance. It is so much easier to fight a single, united foe than hundreds of disparate factions, with their own goals and ideologies… A strong Emperor would have kept the Empire from fracturing.”

”You’re not going to demand that we release you?”

“I don’t see the point in begging,” Lotor said. “Perhaps you will let me rot in here, until either the ship crumbles around me, or I die, and perhaps you won’t. I’m not in a position to negotiate. The fact of the matter is that there will be no Kral Zera until I am dead. The universe is in ruins because there was no one strong enough to step up and take control in my absence, and the resulting territorial conflicts ripped the Empire to shreds. Go ahead and kill me, so that someone else can earn the right to rule.”

“I-  _ No _ , we can’t just…” 

“You don’t have many options. The war will not end until there is someone on the throne to rule over the Galra. That is in our nature, and the thin veneer of civilization cannot overcome millenia of evolution. Either that someone is me, or it isn’t. But you must decide which you would prefer.” 

“If we do keep you here forever, what happens?”

“What has already happened, I suspect, only on a much larger scale. Slavery wasn’t legal when I was a child, but now it is widespread, and it will spread even further as various factions seek to conquer more than their rivals. The slaves will be needed to produce supplies to fuel their warmachines, leaving more Galra free to subjugate new colonies. Only a firm hand, capable of uniting these factions, can stop it.”

“You mean you.” 

“In-fighting among the Galra has always led to disaster for other races. It doesn’t have to be me, but I am currently the only one with the right to rule, and that is very important in our culture. It must be me, unless I am dead, Keith, so if you have no plans to release me, then go ahead. I don’t blame you, but it must be done.”

“I- I can’t.”

Lotor huffed irritably. “Then send in Allura, or Kolivan, or someone who can. Do you fear dirtying your hands? They are already stained with the blood of millions. You won’t be taking an innocent life; I know you’ve already made your mind up about that. If it is your honor you fear for, then give me a weapon so that I won’t be unarmed. But keeping me here forever is a worse cruelty than a painless death.”

“I… I have to think about it,” Keith said finally. Lotor was right, so brutally right. 

“Then think,” Lotor said with a thin smile. “I’ll be here.”

 

“Don’t make me regret this,” Keith said. “If you… If you betray us again, I will hunt you down myself.”

”Who betrayed whom?” Lotor asked softly. “I never wanted to fight Voltron. It was necessary, in the beginning, but by the end…”

“Ok, but I am serious. Don’t turn on us. Ever.”

“Would that I had a semi-sentient robot at my beck and call to bully whomever I wished into submission,” Lotor said scathingly. “Fortunately for you, the Rift reclaimed Sincline.”

“Lotor, just shut up, ok? I feel bad enough about doing this as it is, but you...you were right. So...just…” Keith pressed the button that slid the glass panels back into the wall. “Just go. It’s late. No one will see you. You should be able to find the hangar easily enough. There’s a small shuttle for you, and I assume you’ll be able to figure it out.”

Lotor stepped too close -it might have just been that he was much taller than Keith -and said, “Thank you, Paladin. I will not forget this.”

“I wish you would,” Keith grumbled. “Now hurry. The cameras are going to come back online soon.”

“Things can never go back to the way they were before,” Lotor said, pausing in the doorway. “Tell her that.”

“I will.” 

 


End file.
